Matt Hardy thinks Chelsea Green becoming interim champion says something about how WWE is being run now, and he hopes Chad Gable is the next to benefit from it.
Green won a five-way ladder match on night two of SummerSlam to take the Interim WWE Women’s Championship, beating Tiffany Stratton, Charlotte Flair, Jade Cargill and Lash Legend.
Speaking on The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, he was unreserved about the win itself.
“Very happy that they ended up pulling the trigger on Chelsea Green. She is so talented and she’s so entertaining in so many ways. And she is someone who is deserving of that honour. It’s going to be very interesting to see how her run as interim champion goes. But yes, very, very happy for her. She absolutely deserved that.”
He tied it to the clip from Unreal that Green has credited with turning the audience behind her, in which WWE staff discussed her not being the one.
“All her work, especially after the whole Unreal thing, where she dedicated the win to Michael Hayes. We said, well, we don’t know if she’s that girl, because that’s not really what she’s here to do. You got to love it when people defy the odds and they break through walls they’re not supposed to break through.”
The wider point was about the company rather than the wrestler.
“I can tell you that I feel like TKO is listening to the crowd a little better, just because the fact that Chelsea Green ended up becoming the interim champ. They were listening to people and they saw that people do like her. They’re invested in her.”
He wants the same thinking applied to Gable, who beat Penta for the Intercontinental Championship on the same show in his hometown of Minneapolis.
“We got to shout out Chad Gable too. Chad Gable winning that IC title, that is the next perfect step in trying to ascend him, trying to elevate him, and I’m so happy that he got it.”
“It’s going to depend on how he continues to get over. And I hope the same thing goes for Chad Gable. As long as he goes out there and kills it and continues to grow and builds that strong following and audience here in America with all the WWE fans, whether they are smarter fans or casual fans, I hope he can ascend to the top.”
Green was released by WWE in 2021 and returned in the 2023 Royal Rumble. She has said since her win that it is almost exactly four years since she texted Triple H asking for her job back.
The interim championship exists because Rhea Ripley has been out since June with a meniscus injury, with a unification match expected once she is cleared.
